An Analysis of the Potential Democratizing Effects of Social Media: A Chinese Experience

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Liu, Kang

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Wu, Danqi

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2015-05-08T13:01:56Z

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2015-05-08T13:01:56Z

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2015-05-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/10161/9748

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This paper analyzes the democratizing potential of Chinese social media. The Chinese
government’s media restriction always lies at the key core of international criticism.
The rise of Chinese social media, and citizen journalism in particular, has been regarded
as the key battleground for China’s future. However, the democratizing potential of
Chinese social media in general and citizen journalism in particular stand in need
of investigation in China’s unique context. The same holds true for the cross-cultural
applicability of a Western-style democratic path in the Chinese context. This paper
analyzes China’s current socioeconomic reality and ideological shifts, and agrees
that these changes qualify China as a more liberal society. However, this study also
suggests that collective traditions in Chinese society are still strong at both grassroots
and authoritative levels. Therefore, it is mistaken to assume that China has been
ideologically prepared for undertaking a reform at a structural level. In a similar
vein, although Chinese social media, and citizen journalism in particular, is on the
rise, demonstrating the power of breaking down both the technological and ideological
barriers for deepening China’s political transformation, its contribution to the dawn
of democracy is not nearly as much as we have wished for. Over-anticipation, over-reliance
and over-interference by the Chinese government may undermine its democratizing potential
as a transformative tool and finally result in reversing the process of its growth
and development.

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en_US

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Chinese social media; citizen journalism; Internet censorship;

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An Analysis of the Potential Democratizing Effects of Social Media: A Chinese Experience